Environmental Mathematics & Our Community Role Ben Fusaro - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

JMM 2010 San Francisco, CA MAA CPS -- Quantitative Reasoning & the Environment Organizers -- Karen Bolinger, Maura Mast, Cinnamon Hillyard Environmental Mathematics & Our Community Role Ben Fusaro Florida State University fusaro@math.fsu.edu

Who, or what, is the community; how do we make contact? National organizations such as Audubon. Save Our Trees, Friends of the Nanticoke River, etc. Authors of pro-environ. articles or letters in newspapers. What mathematics & science are most useful? HS math, intro. college math (including statistics). Analytical  Metaphorical, Qualitative, Visual. Local plants, animals, habitat; some chemistry, physics. What kind of resistance is to be expected? Developers, their lawyers and other “hired guns” Members or heads of city/county commissioners.

Cypress Trees (Metaphor, visual) Who: Legislature regulating cypress cutting & shredding . Challenge: Slow the destruction of cypress trees & domes. Proposed solution: Provide Sierra lobbyist Susie C. with to prevent cutting trees =< 30 ’’ in diameter information and “only” 100 acres. Environ. Math. to the rescue … A 30’’ DBH cypress tree has C = 30 x Π = 94 inches. “Tell Sen. Paula Dockery ( R ) that s he can’t get her arms around a 30” DBH tree, a stretch of almost eight feet .”

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Keeping Track of Scrub Jays via Colored Leg Bands Who: The Nature Conservancy Monitoring Project. Challenge: ID bird by color & position of 14 bands. Proposed solution: Use up to seven bands, with no more than four bands per leg.

The Florida Scrub Jay (Aphelocoma coerulescens)

Scrub Jays and Colored Leg Bands (Physics, arithmetic) Who: The Nature Conservancy Monitoring Project. Challenge: ID bird by color & position of 14 bands. Proposed solution: Use up to seven bands, with no more than four bands per leg. 1 ¡ 1 ¡ 2 ¡ 2 ¡ R = 14 x 13 x 12 x 11 L = 14 x 13 x 12 3 ¡ 3 ¡ R x L = 24024 x 2184 = 52,468,416 combo’s 4 ¡ Right Left

The Florida Scrub Jay (Aphelocoma coerulescens)

Spraying for Mosquitoes (Visuals) Who: Leon County (FL) Board of Commissioners. Challenge: Restrict spraying for mosquitoes. Proposed solution: Have citizens, health specialists, school children, etc., point out the threats to human health from toxic sprays. One environmentalist joined them. Environ. Math. As part of the rescue … Master of Wildlife Conservation (LC-UF), 1998 Master Wildlifer (Clemson-UF), 2003 Master Naturalist (UF-IFAS), 2009

The Mosquito Hawk

pyrethrin = + pyrethrin = + + pyrethrin = Photos : Google, Google, Flicker

¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ Spray ¡to ¡LD50 ¡ Mosquitoes 800 400 Dragonflies 40 20 1 st 2 nd 3 rd 4 th 5 th 6 th week

The Florida Panther

Panther Deaths (Metaphor; arithmetic) Who: Audubon members; the general public. Challenge: Take panther-deaths seriously. Proposed solution: Build underpasses so that panthers can safely cross highways. Background: Seven Florida panthers were killed by cars in 2008, out of an estimated population of 100-120. How to put this in perspective…? “Would you takes steps to correct such a situation if 1.2 million Floridians were killed by cars in a year…?” “This is a smaller proportion than the number of panther deaths”